Mande Barung
The Mande Barung (sometimes spelled as Mande Burung) is a tall, bipedal ape-like creature that is said to be an Indian Yeti residing in the tropical rainforests of the Garo Hills. It’s thought to be related to the Yeti of Nepal, the Ban-Manush of Bangladesh, the Yeren of mainland China and the Bigfoot of the Pacific-Northwest. The Mande Barung might be a surviving form of the giant ape Gigantopithecus, because they appear to have many similarities. Extreme Expeditions Extreme Expeditions author and cryptozoologist Adam Davies is going into the jungle in search of the Mande Burung. Davies will lead his latest extreme excursion into the rainforests of the West Garo Hills District, State of Meghalaya, India, which is very near Bangladesh. “Meghalaya” literally means “The Abode of Clouds” and is the name of that small state in northeast India. We have met the Mande Barung or Mande Burung before. ''Earlier in the month, Adam emailed me with the facts about his expedition, asking me to hold off in posting the announcement until this week. He wrote: “I will be leading a team to look for the Mande-Burung shortly. I find it fascinating that the sightings may point to the existence of a relic Gigantopithecus population. I will be leading the team, and have organized it, along with Dipu Marak. I have enclosed some bullet points and facts: ~ The Team will be on expedition for approximately three weeks. We will depart on Halloween, 31st October, from London, and return on November 19-20, 2010. ~ The team is headed by me. I will be joined by Dave Archer and John McGowan, who will be bringing their tracking expertise to the Team, whilst Dr. Chris Clark and Richard Freeman, will be providing Technical and Zoological expertise respectively. ~ Dipu Marak will head up the Indian Team, which includes both trackers and porters. ~ We will be deploying both traditional tracking techniques, as well as using hi-tech equipment such as infra-red, camera traps, thermal imaging and filed microscopes as well as a helicam, if appropriate. We will use silicon molding should we get any tracks to cast. ~ The team will be engaging in both arduous physical treks, and night stakeouts. ~ We have already arranged a series of appointments with alleged Mande-Burung eyewitnesses. ~ The expedition will be filmed for a forthcoming documentary. ~ Mission statement: I would love to see one, but at the end of the day, it is all about the science. Getting pictures on the camera traps would be amazing. What the expedition really hopes to do though is get tangable physical evidence of the creature, should it exist, which can then be analyzed by independent scientific experts, (e.g. to extract D.N.A.). I also hope to have a great adventure when we are there, and chill with the locals! Remember in June 2007 when artist Peter Loh, making contact from Singapore, sent in the above illustration to go with the breaking news coming hot out of the rainforests of South Asia of a strange new creature, the Mande Burung (= Wild Jungle People)? The hominoid was then back in the news in 2008. Chad Arment made reference to a news item about the Achik Tourism Society (ATS) studying the Mande Burung of the Garo Hills in Meghalaya, which is “assumed to be an ape like creature like the Yeti.” (The ATS was previously cited as the source of the past Mande Burung too.) The May 6th, 2008, article noted: ''The ATS has also come up with very comprehensive report and descriptions of Mande Burung or the so-called Bigfoot. It is big, apelike creature with thick hair covering its entire body. The colour of the hair is reported to be black or blackish brown. It has some kind of foul odour/smell emanating from the body. It has a footprint/pug mark size from 13 inches to 15 inches in length. It may be around 7’5″ to 9’ tall. It may weigh around 300 kgs. It is noted to be a herbivorous creature, who eats banana, tubes, tree roots, fruits, berries, barks of some trees, sawe trees and is also reported to eat crabsthough this indicates an omnivorous diet. It walks on two legs (biped). (As reported in 2002 sighting). It sleeps in the nest built on the open ground (as reported in 2002 sighting). It is shy and is basically harmless (as reported in 2005 sighting). It is a creature with phenomenal strength. The article also intriguingly mentioned that: Those who have seen this ape like mammal have interesting stories to reveal. It is reported by the villagers that on one occasion, a man who was passing through a forest was captured by this mammal and forcibly made him do breast feeding. This was reported on January 18, 1999. His account said, “The milk was sour with a mixture of bitterness.” Besides Mande Burung and their breasts, Adam Davies’ team should be on the lookout for ghorals, too. Hairs believed to belong to a Mande Burung/Mande Barung/Yeti in India actually were from a species of a goat-antelope-like animal, the goral, US scientists found out in 2008. This discovery was exciting to the specialists involved in the finding. DNA tests on the hairs, which came from the Indian state of Meghalaya, showed they are from the Himalayan goral (Nemorhaedus goral), an animal with a grey-brown coat. This was a startling find, in and of itself, and one that Adam Davies and his team should take into account during his quest. The Himalayan goral, also known as the gray goral, is a small, rough-haired, cylindrical-horned ruminant native to the Himalayas. In the past, it was also known as Urotragus goral. The Himalayan goral is found in the forests of the Himalayas, usually between 1000 and 4000 meters in elevation. Groups of animals typically occupy a territory of about 100 acres. Finding evidence of ghorals in the Indian state of Meghalaya would be a worthy discovery for Davies. CFZ India Expedition 2010 This is excellent news: over at Cryptomundo, Loren Coleman alerts us to the fact that there's a new expedition on the horizon: to India, in search of the Mande Burung, a creature that may represent "a relic Gigantopithecus population." Here's Loren to tell you more. And, here's Jon Downes with the full story on the quest: "On 31st of October the CFZ 2010 expedition leaves England. They will be exploring the Garo Hills in Northern India in search of the mande-burung or Indian yeti. The five-man team consists of team leader Adam Davies, Dr Chris Clark, Dave Archer, field naturalist John McGowan, and cryptozoologist Richard Freeman. "The creatures are described as being up to ten feet tall, with predominantly black hair. Most importantly, they are said to walk upright, like a man. Walking apes have been reported in the area for many years. These descriptions sound almost identical to those reported in neighbouring Bhutan and Tibet. Witnesses report that the mande-burung, which translates as forest man, is most often seen in the area in November. "The Garo Hills are a heavily forested and poorly explored area in Meghalaya state in the cool northern highlands of India. The area is internationally renowned for its wildlife, which includes tigers, bears, elephants and Indian rhino and clouded leopards. "The Indian team will be led by Dipu Marek, a local expert who has been on the trail of the Indian yeti for a number of years and has found both its nests and 19 inch long `footprints` on previous occasions. The expedition team has also arranged to interview eyewitnesses who have seen the Mande-Burung. "Camera traps will be set up in sighting areas in the hope of catching one of the creatures on film. "The Mande-Burung may be a surviving form of a giant ape known from its fossilised teeth and jaw bones, called Gigantopithecus blacki, which lived in the Pleistocene epoch around three hundred thousand years ago. This creature is of course extinct. However, much contemporary fauna such as the giant panda, the Asian tapir and the Asian elephant that lived alongside the monster ape, still survive today. It is thought by many that Gigantopithecus also survives in the impenetrable jungles and mountains of Asia. Its closest known relatives are the Orangutans of Sumatra and Borneo. "Last year the team, who investigate mystery animals all over the world, travelled to Sumatra in search of a small, bipedal ape known as the orang pendek. Dave Archer and local guide Sahar Didmus saw the creature and the group brought back hair that was later analysed by Dr Lars Thomas at the University of Copenhagen. The DNA proved to be similar to an orangutan's, an animal not found in that part of Sumatra." Category:Bigfoot Category:Humanoids Category:Hairy Humanoids Category:India Category:Cryptids Category:Asian cryptids Category:Southeast Asia Category:Cryptid Wiki Category:Primates Category:Living fossil Category:Mammals Category:Heidelbergensis Category:Apes Category:Himalayas